The proud linguistic reputation of Australians has been challenged by a study revealing they come third in online swearing, behind their more foul-mouthed counterparts from the UK and the US.
The research, which analyzed over 1.7 billion words from 20 English-speaking countries, found Australians use the word “crap” most frequently, falling behind the British use of “cunt” and Americans’ “asshole”.
Dr. Martin Schweinberger from the University of Queensland and Professor Kate Burridge from Monash University were surprised by these findings, expecting “fuck” to be the most used word in Australia.
The study, published in the journal Lingua, is the first large-scale analysis combining traditional linguistics with computational methods.
Researchers defined vulgar language as words or expressions considered rude, offending social norms, including blasphemy, insults, and slurs.
The study also found that while Australians may not swear as much online, they are more creative with their language offline.
Despite the findings, Australians are not the most profane when it comes to specific words, with the term “cockknuckle” being a more creative and less common choice.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/may/23/americans-british-swear-more-online-than-australians
